Aurora-class: Powerhouse or Piece o' Crud?

[s09119]

(Search has turned up no threads specifically about this, and it's being argued in the wrong places, so here's a thread just for it.)

We've seen Aurora-class ships only a few times in Stargate, but when they've shown up, they've never failed to disappoint. They were a heavy escort ship in the Lantean Navy, and are able to dispatch hive ships with ease. But in the end, how useful are they, based on what we've seen?

For the record, NO simply saying "but evryting lozez 2 tha Odyssey!!!!!!", please.

[Gen_J_O'Neill]

^ lol, but they do!!!

Anyway..to the point. I'd say they were a powerhouse. Like you said they were able to take out a hive, without breaking a sweat. Its only when they were out numbered where they destroyed.

Also, all of the Aurora class ships we've seen have been damaged in some way and not in 100% working order. If we did find one that was in great condition I have a feeling that it would kick some serious butt!

[Jimbo-DR]

The Aurora class carries the Drone weapon. That is canon. We've never seen a more devastating piece of technology. I know some will say that beam weapons "look cooler" but the drones have been the most effective weapon we've ever used. There is also ample on screen evidence to show that the Aurora class carries a plethora of mounted energy turrets. Just take a look at some of Mr. O's screen caps for evidence of that. In addition, this is the only ship we've ever seen go into battle without concern for its shields failing. And that was the already severely damaged and power drained Orion. Granted, the lack of a statement about shield strength may seem trivial, but to me it says that the characters on screen at the time weren't worried about shield failure. THAT leads me to believe that the Aurora possesses incredibly powerful and/or energy efficient shields.

[Xeon_1]

The Aurora class carries the Drone weapon. That is canon. We've never seen a more devastating piece of technology. I know some will say that beam weapons "look cooler" but the drones have been the most effective weapon we've ever used. There is also ample on screen evidence to show that the Aurora class carries a plethora of mounted energy turrets. Just take a look at some of Mr. O's screen caps for evidence of that. In addition, this is the only ship we've ever seen go into battle without concern for its shields failing. And that was the already severely damaged and power drained Orion. Granted, the lack of a statement about shield strength may seem trivial, but to me it says that the characters on screen at the time weren't worried about shield failure. THAT leads me to believe that the Aurora possesses incredibly powerful and/or energy efficient shields.

the reason they wern't worried about shield faillure whas beacause the used the shield power to power the drones and basicly shut down the shield to fire
the only did this beacause they didn't have enough power for both
so i am guesing that they where still on backup power during the month they had the ship and also during the battle and never got primairy power systems online

now if that whas indeed the case i would have never send the orion to fight
i mean who send a ship to a battle with only emergence power online???

[immhotep]

The Aurora is a formidable vessel, there is no doubt. Not because it is lantian and they are the most uber race ever or any of the crap. It is because it has drones, shields and is massive.
The aurora is several times the size of the deadalus, its shields are obviously weaker than Odysess's because O. has a ZPM plus Asgard shields and power core.
But It was able to survive a volcanic eruption of a supervolcano, which on Earth could wipe out most of the US and basicly destroy the world. (yellowstone one) The Orion wasnt at full strength and had to sacrafice shields for weapons, which is why it was destroyed.
Is it a powerhouse? I dont think so, i think its a pretty routine ship for the ancients, its nothing special. It has about 500 drones, from estimates, which isnt much, thats about 80PJ's worth. And far less than was in Antartica. It has enough drones to take a few hive ships, but i dont think it has enough drones to be the kind of powerhouse that we would think. IMO thats why the ancients lost the war due to numbers, their technology was superiour but it implementation wasnt good enough, an aurora could take out 3 hives, but the wraith would throw 12 at an aurora.
Eventually it would run out of drones, and be destroyed. Now we dont know how powerful the so far -fictional energy turrets are. They are no the Langara point defence beam kind, because that was a massive structure & in Progeny they look more like Hatak type energy shots than beams.
Thats not to say the couldnt put up a fight, but i think they were more point defence against darts and cruisers than hive destroyers.
As to shields, i dont think they are going to be as powerful as people think, Atlantis is powerful because it has a ZPM, just like with a ZPM the Oddesey is able to take 11 Ori hits. I think they would be on the same kind of level as Asgard shields without a ZPM, so Oddesey or Oniel grade, not Atlantis. Atlantis is uber because its power source, im not bringing in my Asgard vs ancient comparison just for the sake of it. Even with Asgard shields and drones it a powerhouse. But not the kind of powerhouse that is so amazing it would turn the tide in any war. It didnt so the ancients much good and they had hundreds of them, so it might give us a short advantage.
The other piece of crud that might need to be taken in to account is hyperdrive speed, as standard they have intra-galactic, which isnt that fast, they were slower than the deadalus. They left at the same time and got there about 5 minutes after them. So we can say that Asgard hyperdrives are faster than the standard Ancient ones.

Aurora isnt a piece of crud but again its not the powerhouse that everyone thinks it would be, its a good ship, that would be very valuble, but if you expect it to come in and destroy fleets of hives i think you will be disapointed.

Immhotep

[Mister Oragahn]

Of course, the Lantians could easily plug a ZPM of theirs into an Aurora-class ship.

I don't think the turrets are that fictional.





They're clearly artillery pieces, and likely there to support the drones. Actually, they could largely be the main source of firepower. A typical cannon barrel is more than 3 meters wide.

That makes them fairly bigger than the turret placed on top of the lantian lab seen in Trinity.

The number of drones fired by the Orion is only a low end. We have no way to know if the ship's stock was at full.

Plus we don't exactly know what's the use of the large auxiliary piece of hardware on the side of the ships.
In many people's mind, it's likely a "satellite beam".

Their hyperdrive is intra-galactic, but using the Orion as a yardstick isn't reliable enough. There wasn't enough power for all systems, and the ship was already under repair when they found it.
Plus it went through a massive dose of strain when that supervolcano exploded.

[s09119]

^^^

Wow! Impressive pics you have there. Clearly shows a few dozen turrets on that thing. Now THAT would be a pretty piece of hardware to bring into battle...

Wraith: Aha! Just the Daeda--crud... They just called for the Aurora ship...

[Jimbo-DR]

Hell, with the Daedalus's upgrades being installed if I were the Wraith I would be very scared of it too. But yea, a fully functioning Aurora class would definitely be a huge boost to our "fleet".

[immhotep]

i meant they were fictional in that we have no way to judge how powerful they were, i think you are right that they are energy weapons, but they might as well be fictional because they havent been used in the show and therefore they cant be compared to anything. your right a ZPM could be plugged in but theyre not standard.
The Turrets look alot like rail guns to me Battery D1 looks like a rail gun with 2 || magnets and a barrel..

[the_dark_light]

They're clearly artillery pieces, and likely there to support the drones. Actually, they could largely be the main source of firepower. A typical cannon barrel is more than 3 meters wide.

That makes them fairly bigger than the turret placed on top of the lantian lab seen in Trinity.

The number of drones fired by the Orion is only a low end. We have no way to know if the ship's stock was at full.

Plus we don't exactly know what's the use of the large auxiliary piece of hardware on the side of the ships.
In many people's mind, it's likely a "satellite beam".

Perhaps the cannons were like the weapon on the La Grange point satellites? (It would make sense as they're designed to run off of a small power supply, that would mean that they could have a large number of weapons but without a heavy power requirement. As they have a fairly long recharge time then that is probably why there are so many.)
It's safe to say it's canon that those things can take a hive ship with 1 shot.

[IcyNeko]

Well, escort ships are hardly the Powerhouse of any fleet, but I think in this case, it's more of an issue that the ships are ollld (10,000 years if not more), and underpowered (Orion barely had enough power to fight). With proper maintenance and care.. and POWER... I'm sure the ships would be more than a match for a single hive. Possibly more than a single hive.

[Jimbo-DR]

Probably more like a few Hives. The Ancients were outnumbered, but I think they mean more than like 2 or 3 to 1. From what we've seen of the Hives, it would take a crapload for them to win the war. I'm sure 20 hives attacking 1 Aurora would stand a fair chance.

[!!??]

I doubt the only weapon the Aurora class ship has is drones. They must have other weapons just in case they run out. Those batteries could be a mix between pulse and beam weapons. I would consider a full powered aurora a power house.

[Wraith_Boy]

(Search has turned up no threads specifically about this, and it's being argued in the wrong places, so here's a thread just for it.)

We've seen Aurora-class ships only a few times in Stargate, but when they've shown up, they've never failed to disappoint. They were a heavy escort ship in the Lantean Navy, and are able to dispatch hive ships with ease. But in the end, how useful are they, based on what we've seen?

For the record, NO simply saying "but evryting lozez 2 tha Odyssey!!!!!!", please.

The Aurroa is/was a warship!

Why on Earth would the Lanteans have a Navy. They were travelling across the universe over 50million years ago. They have no more a Navy than Wraith, Asurans, Goa'uld, Asgard or any other advanced race we've seen. Not to mention, what is the function of a Navy! The Lanteans weren't at war & were caught off-guard by the Wraith instantly. Therefore if there was peace, then there was no need for them to even have an army.

If they were able to dispatch Hive ships with ease, then the Lanteans wouldn't have lost the war! In 'The Return', it's stated that they were damaged by Wraith Cruisers. Not to mention we've only seen it fire Drones, what happens if it came across 5 Hive ships. The amount of Drones needed to take out 1 ship is huge & they'd never have enough Drones in their armoury to take out multiple ships. So if they don't have any other weapons, then they'd be vulnerable. Meaning the ship would be **** useless! If it has energy weapons like the sat beam weapon, then it would be much more useful. However I'd much rather take Odyssey or an Asgard ship over it. The only thing I'd take off it for the 304 would be the Drones.

In the end they were obviously not that useful, but they would still be good ships to have on your side. Having 1 back on Earth for defence, ZPM it, then install all the latest Asgard technology & it'd beast anything that came near it!

The Aurora class carries the Drone weapon. That is canon. We've never seen a more devastating piece of technology. I know some will say that beam weapons "look cooler" but the drones have been the most effective weapon we've ever used. There is also ample on screen evidence to show that the Aurora class carries a plethora of mounted energy turrets. Just take a look at some of Mr. O's screen caps for evidence of that. In addition, this is the only ship we've ever seen go into battle without concern for its shields failing. And that was the already severely damaged and power drained Orion. Granted, the lack of a statement about shield strength may seem trivial, but to me it says that the characters on screen at the time weren't worried about shield failure. THAT leads me to believe that the Aurora possesses incredibly powerful and/or energy efficient shields.

Of course we've seen more devastating weapons than Drones & that is fact!

In 'The Road Not Taken', they use all their Drones & severely drain a ZPM to fight off a single Ori ship. Yet the new Asgard weapons can take out an Ori ship in the space of a few hits, also without draining down the ZPM to unuseable levels.

Drones are finite & require tremendous amounts of power to run. Therefore they are not efficient. I'd even say the Ori or Asuran beam weapons would be much better to have on your ship instead of Drones.

[Jimbo-DR]

Wrong. We saw those beam weapons knock out an Ori ship, true, but that still doesn't mean anything. We know that the Drones were effective against the Ori in Road not Taken, and they've been effective against every other ship we've ever tried them on. They simultaneously wiped out an entire Goa'uld fleet of 30+ ships in Lost City, and they destroy Wraith Hives without even trying. In addition, it took 2 Drones to completely obliterate a Goa'uld Ha'tak in "Its Good to be King". They take power to control the CHAIR which controls the drones. The puddle jumpers have considerably less power than a ZPM but they manage to fire drones just fine. The Aurora didn't even have enough power to use weapons and shields at the same time, but it had enough to fire Drones. Drones are proven effective against every race we've ever faced EXCEPT the Asurans(which speaks to how much more advanced the Ancients were than everyone else), and they are the most devastating weapon to be facing.